MARY HNATIUK A

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MARY HNATIUK A truer pioneering woman you could not find. Born into a family of boys (Bill, John, George, Dmetro, and Harry, all deceased) on December 10, 1914, Mary Hnatiuk (née Tomchuk) spent her early life on father Stefan Tomchuk and mother Paraska Tomchuk's homestead, in the middle of marshland in the Interlake near Fisherton. In 1933, she married Dan Hnatiuk, and together they formed an important pillar within the community of Fisher Branch. Having just returned from Chicago and Detroit, Dan had witnessed the destitution of the depression first hand and was bent on social progress. Mary always shared her husband's political ideals. Both were active members of the CCF and later the NDP. Even as Alzheimer's began to get the better of her, she never forgot her socialist values. While Dad was the breadwinner, Mary held down the fort, hosting meetings and helping with office work in their Co-operators and Autopac insurance business. To add to the family income she kept boarders, teachers, nurses, etc., and everyone put on weight because of Mary's superior cooking abilities. Mary was a loving and nurturing wife, mother and grandmother. She and Dan had always wanted children, but Dan had mumps as a young man and they were unable to have children until 20 years later, at the age of 40, Mary gave birth to Rosemary. Sadly Mary came down with T.B., when Rosemary was only two years old and was in and out of the sanatorium for a total of two years. In those days she said she would be happy to live long enough to see Rosemary graduate from high school, but she lived to see her grandson, Stefan (father Paul Peters) graduate and go on to university. Dan passed away in 2000, and Mary moved from the house that Dan had built to the Fisher Branch Chalet and then to the Fisher Personal Care Home. Though she suffered from the effects of Alzheimer's in her last years, she remained physically remarkably spry. You can't kill me with an axe! she would often say, in a typical display of Tomchuk cheekiness. On Tuesday, November 10, Mary fell, breaking her hip. She passed away on November 21, 2009, as a result of complications from surgery. Mourning her are her daughter, Rosemary Hnatiuk, grandson, Stefan Peters-Hnatiuk, special niece/ second daughter , Marjorie Tomchuk and a host of nephews and nieces of both the Tomchuk and Hnatiuk clans, as well all those who knew her and loved her for the sweetness of her disposition. A funeral will be held on Thursday, November 26, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. at the Ukrainian National Home, 33 Provencher Street, Fisher Branch, and on December 19, 2009, her ashes will be interred at the side of Dan, her beloved husband and lifelong confidant, at the Fisherton Cemetery. Arrangements are by Fisher Funeral Home. Special thanks to Mary's homecare providers and the staff at the Fisher Personal Care Home.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Nov 24, 2009